Are free VPNs safe, and should you pay for one?

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In an increasingly complicated digital world, virtual private networks (VPNs) have never been so important. But often, they don't come cheap. Luckily, that's where the vast market of free VPNs can help.

The best VPN services can help boost your online privacy by encrypting your traffic and masking your IP address from the sites or apps you use from your ISP (internet service provider), both at home/mobile, or on public WiFi. It can make some forms of tracking and interception more difficult for bad actors looking to exploit you or your data.

While your real-world location is masked on a VPN, it's important to remember that it doesn't prevent websites or apps from identifying you through logins, cookies, or browser fingerprinting. Your ISP can usually tell that you are using a VPN, too.

But when you're talking about your security, is it best to pay? Not necessarily. Free VPNs have come a long way, and some offer surprisingly strong packages.

Obviously, they come with limits. They often limit the number of server countries, put some features behind a paywall, and offer lower speeds. But, there is a very clear benefit - an extra layer of security and privacy without paying a penny.

In this article, we'll talk you through how a free VPN works, the risks and the benefits, as well as which ones are worth your time.

What is a free VPN?

A VPN reroutes your traffic through one of its servers, so the websites and services you visit usually see the VPN server's IP address instead of your own. For example, you could be in Washington while a site sees you as connecting from Jamaica.

This has a few benefits, including added privacy on untrusted networks and, in some cases, access to services or content that depend on your apparent location, such as streaming movies, live TV, and sports while abroad.

While there are plenty of free VPNs, they differ notably from the more feature-rich paid versions. These differences are usually:

• Speeds: Free VPNs often cap speeds, meaning that while you're using the VPN, your ping score, download, and upload speeds can drop.
• Limited options: Paid VPNs can offer digital access to thousands of cities across hundreds of countries. Free VPNs, on the other hand, can sometimes offer as few as 10 pre-selected options, and you can't manually choose which one to join.
• Fewer features: Many advanced features are locked, leaving you mostly with the ability to quickly connect to a random country and hide your IP address.

VPNs can be free for various reasons, but they still need to make money. They could be doing this by serving you ads, trying to upsell you to a paid plan, or, most concerning, selling your data or filling your device with malware.

The hidden risks of free VPNs

Unsurprisingly, free VPN companies aren't exactly in the business of highlighting the risks of free VPNs. While the most reliable and verified ones can be safe, there are some important notes to keep in mind.

The most notable risk is data logging. Many good VPN services have no-log policies. In other words, they don't track or save any of your data or history while using a VPN.

This can't be said of every service, especially of some free VPNs, which make money by selling your data. When researching, look for a provider with a no-logs policy.

Also, some free VPNs may offer weaker protections or less transparency, so it's worth checking which protocols and encryption they use and whether their privacy claims have been independently audited.

Many free VPNs can throttle your connection speeds due to overburdened servers, making browsing feel sluggish and more intensive tasks, such as large downloads, streaming, or video calls, more difficult. In some cases, you'll only get a limited amount of data before your speeds are heavily capped or cut off.

In some cases, it's not only data selling that is used to make money. Some free VPNs include ads to offset costs. More concerning, though, it is believed that a good chunk of free VPNs can include malware or will leak your IP address.

Finally, while legitimate providers are often well-reviewed and backed, there are plenty of options out there that don't disclose much important information, leaving you in the dark on what you might be giving up by using their service.

The best way to avoid these risks? Stick with big-name providers that are well-reviewed by various established sites by experienced reviewers. You simply cannot rely on user reviews on app stores to vouch for security measures and proper testing. Google and Apple have both let plenty of shifty apps onto their service over the years.

Once you've found a free VPN you've verified, look into its encryption and try to understand why they are offering a free VPN.

Free vs paid VPNs

VPN companies are always going to try to get you to upgrade to a paid plan, but what is the difference?

Free VPNs often come with trade-offs such as fewer features, fewer server locations, less control over server choice, ads, and lower performance. With reputable providers, the biggest differences are often features and capacity rather than the core encryption itself.

At its core, a free VPN is often meant as a tester or trial. It offers a limited version of the service so you can see what it is like. The limitations usually include speed caps, limits on the number of countries you can use, and fewer features.

If you do plan to upgrade to a paid VPN, the change will often be very noticeable. Free VPNs often cap your speeds, meaning downloads, uploads, and general internet use will be much slower.

You'll also find it challenging if you're trying to use a VPN for a specific country. For example, if you're looking to stream German Netflix while out of the country, a free VPN might not offer a server in that country. Or you might be trying to enjoy a local streaming service at home in the US, like Fubo, but you're forced to a French server, which means you won't be able to stream it.

Finally, many free VPNs are often less secure, with weaker encryption (such as the incredibly dated PPTP protocol instead of something more modern like AES-256) and fewer of the more impressive security features like split-tunneling and kill switches.

Are any free VPNs safe?

Free VPNs are not all created equal. While some are intended to offer an introduction to their services, showing off what a VPN can do for free, others are mostly looking to acquire your data or sell you a service.

When choosing a free VPN, it is best to select a service from a trustworthy provider. Effectively, this comes down to two questions. Why is it free? And how safe is this particular tool?

In some cases, the lack of a price tag comes down to your data being sold. These are common free VPN tactics: charging you nothing while selling your data for a reward.

The best way to get around this is to look for VPNs with a no-log policy or a clear statement that no data is retained - and then look for a third-party audit that backs this up. Also, aim for one with a strong encryption level.

A good free VPN is simply trying to get you to upgrade to their full service, showing you what is possible, and hoping you'll spend some cash for more of it.

A safe, free VPN option

There are plenty of good free VPNs out there. One that we've liked in testing is Proton VPN. It follows a freemium model, with a free tier designed to introduce users to the service and a paid plan that unlocks more locations, features, and performance.

In our full Proton VPN review, we were impressed by how much the free version includes, as well as its high security and encryption. And, unlike many free VPNs, Proton's free plan has a kill switch (to sever your online connection if your VPN suddenly disconnects), no data limit, no ads, and no logs of user activity - and it has audits to prove the latter.

However, it still has limitations, including fewer server locations and less control than the paid version. You're assigned the closest available free server, which might not always be in the country you want. Speeds from these servers are slower than those on the paid tiers, but still plenty fast enough if you're already starting with a fast connection.

While by no means the only free VPN worth your time, it is a good example of what to look for.

Conclusion

Free VPNs can be useful for basic privacy, especially if you're using one from a reputable provider. But they don't guarantee anonymity or make you automatically safe in all your online activities. Many free apps come with significant trade-offs, such as speed limits, data caps, limited server selection, and fewer features.

There are plenty of free VPNs out there, and if you find the right one, you can still get a very safe experience. While all free VPNs will be capped or have drawbacks, they can still do the core basics.

We would highly recommend doing some thorough research on any free VPN you plan to download, analyzing its security, how it makes money, and its stance on data sharing.

If you try a free VPN out and find that you are getting a lot of use out of it, an eventual upgrade to a paid plan could also be worth your time, unlocking a host of extra security features, as well as more choice when it comes to different regional connection options.

If you're leaning more toward a paid VPN to have the widest feature set and avoid the potentially malicious free apps out there, take a look at our roundup of the latest best VPN deals. We've only highlighted those we've personally tested and reviewed, and confirmed that they have passed third-party audits of their no-logs claims.